“I’m quite ashamed to say I did not know the Loving story,” says Jeff Nichols, writer and director of Cannes darlings like Mud and Take Shelter—who was introduced only a few years ago to the tale of a mixed-race couple that famously fought anti-miscegenation laws in 1960s Virginia.

Nichols ended up directing Loving, which follows the eponymous couple: Richard Loving, a white bricklayer, and Mildred, his African-American and Native American wife. As a result of their interracial marriage, the pair was banished from their home state. Their civil-rights case, Loving v. Virginia, went all the way to the Supreme Court; in 1967, the judicial body invalidated state laws prohibiting interracial marriage.

In 2012, when the fight for marriage equality was at its height, the director was approached by producers eager to turn filmmaker Nancy Buirski’s Peabody– and Emmy Award–winning documentary feature about the couple into a feature film. “I watched this beautiful documentary, and was emotionally floored,” says the director. “This is a foundational part of our American history. Why don’t we know this one?”

The director sat down with Vanity Fair to speak about the process of bringing the Lovings to the big screen and the relevance of their struggle today.

In your opinion, is Loving a love story, or a civil-rights drama?

It’s a love story. And I would argue that beyond that, it’s a story about marriage and commitment. A lot of people have come up to me [and said,] “You know, they never told each other they love each other in the whole movie.” And it kind of depends on how you tell people you love them. The whole movie is the act of that. Anybody that’s married or been in a committed relationship for any period of time knows that love is defined by the mundane times and the hard times. That’s where commitment starts to deepen.

Unlike the rest of your films, you didn’t come up with the idea for this movie; you decided, initially, just to write its screenplay. Why dip your toe in the water, before committing to directing?

A big thing for me is making sure that everybody’s making the same movie. You hear all of these horror stories, because there’s maybe a lack of clarity on the part of some people involved. So since I hadn’t done this before, I just said, “Look. Let me write it. And if we all agree that that’s the movie we want to make, then, absolutely, let’s talk about directing.”

Jeff Nichols, left, with Joel Edgeton on set.

Courtesy of Focus Features.

Was there a point while writing the script that you felt that you needed to direct it?

Yeah, about the time I finished it. I was stressed out during the writing, because these are real people. And I’m moving them around on the page, and sometimes putting words in their mouth that I couldn’t a hundred percent verify. It was an odd, at times, awkward relationship that I had with a screenplay that I’ve never had before. I would always call [longtime collaborator and producer] Sarah Green and say, “You know, it’s really good. Like, the lawyer’s coming in at the right time. And it’s really emotional.” We just kind of looked up at some point, and were like, “This is something we really have to do.”

When you’re hired based on producers’ appreciation for your previous work, are you worried that will dictate how you make your next film?

It worries me with actors as well. As flattering as it is that people say, “I want to be in a Jeff Nichols film,” it’s kind of like, “Ah, I just want you to want to be in this film.” No one cared about me when I sent Mike Shannon Shotgun Stories. Matthew McConaughey didn’t particularly care about me when he read the script for Mud. They responded to the material. And that’s ultimately what I want. I remember specifically Kirsten Dunst before Midnight Special being like, “I just want to be in a Jeff Nichols film.” And again, as flattering as it is, you’re like, “I don’t want you thinking about that. I want you thinking about, do you want to play this part in this story?” So maybe there’s some overlap with the producers.

But they just said the right things. Like, when I first got on the phone with [producer] Peter Saraf, the first thing out of his mouth was, “It’s a lifelong ambition to make a Jeff Nichols film.” I am easily flattered [Laughs]. And that one got me.

There’s very little melodrama in this film. How did you figure out its pacing and tone?

A lot of that’s dictated from the script, which is dictated from an initial idea about point of view. I harp on point of view a lot as a storyteller. When you commit to a point of view, it cuts through and clarifies all these things. So I decided that I’m going to stick with Richard and Mildred. And they were very quiet people. They were people that just were trying to go about their daily existence. And as a result, you have a film that plays out that way.

There were a few creative decisions I made about how to handle time. We had nearly a decade to deal with. This was an idea I had before the Loving story came to me, that if you were in an agricultural community or rural community, it would be very interesting to show a long period of time just through seasons and not necessarily think about years. I definitely jumped to apply that to this, because I think one of the most insidious parts of their exile and of their punishment was that time was taken away from them.

How did you end up casting an Australian actor and an Irish/Ethiopian actor in the lead roles?

Well, Ruth [Negga] came first. She came in and did the four or five scenes that we had, and they were amazing. And it wasn’t until after we were done that she started speaking with me, and I noticed she had an Irish accent. [Laughs] And so that wasn’t part of my calculus at all when I was watching her. But I didn’t know her, so she walked in, and it just allowed me to see Mildred.

Then, you’ve got Joel [Edgerton], who I’m working with on Midnight Special, and I’m watching him tackle a Texas accent in this film. And I’ve got to say, when I wrote Mud, I wrote Mud for Matthew McConaughey. When I wrote this, I wrote it for Richard and Mildred, so I’m looking for people that can embody these real people. And I’m not just looking for an impersonation, but it starts with that mechanical work. I was watching Joel do that mechanical work on Midnight Special, and I knew that if I gave him all this resource material, he would just nail [the role of Richard]. So it wasn’t really a question about what relationship do you have with the real American South, or what relationship do you have with race in America. For me, it was more like, do you know how to do the mechanical work to pull off this very specific dialect, and accent, and voice, and body language, and everything else?

What do you feel is the relevance of this story to the time we live in now?

It’s about equality. I think equality is not something, as a society, we ever achieve. It’s something we constantly redefine for ourselves. There are continuing debates, arguments, a lot of dialogue about the subject of equality. Whether it’s marriage equality or racial equality or social inequality, in terms of socio-economic status, I think Richard and Mildred are a guidepost of how to have these discussions. They show us the humanity at the center of it. And they show it to us in a way that’s beautiful in that it has no agenda. It has no motive. You can’t argue against that.

Hiro Kanagawa

You might recognize Hiro Kanagawa’s signature silver hair and insanely youthful skin (he’s 52?!) from recent appearances in Heroes Reborn, iZombie, Zoo, The Man in the High Castle, The 100, and The Magicians—though he’s actually been playing authority figures since the days of the animated PBS series Sagwa and The CW’s Smallville. He’s also shown up in The X-Files three times over the years—’94, ’97, and last year—popping up as a different character each time. Or maybe they’re secretly all the same character. (No doubt this conspiracy has been explored on an X-Files message board somewhere.) Kanagawa will have a major role in the new time travel show Timeless on NBC.

Photo: By Christos Kalohoridis/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images.

Malcolm Barrett

Also in Timeless is Malcolm Barrett, whom fans of the beloved TV comedy Better Off Ted will recognize immediately as scientist Lem Hewitt. His ace comic timing has made Barrett perfect for parts on the likes of Key and Peele, Garfunkel and Oates, and Kroll Show. Barrett has also appeared in movies such as Larry Crowne, Dear White People, and this year’s War on Everyone. The native New Yorker has shown up in several commercials as well, including the latest Diet Dr. Pepper spot where Justin Guarini shows up in a washing machine. You know the one.

Photo: By Danny Feld/ABC/Photofest.

Amy Hill

Amy Hill has done buzzy shows including Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and UnREAL in the past year, but she’s also had recurring voice roles on a variety of animated series—The Jackie Chan Adventures, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, King of the Hill, American Dad!—as well as recurring live-action roles on Enlightened, General Hospital, and That’s So Raven, among brief appearances on shows such as Castle and Glee. This fall, she’ll show up in the four-camera CBS comedy The Great Indoors.

Photo: Courtesy of James Dittiger/Lifetime.

Freddie Stroma

Another UnREAL alum, Freddie Stroma, will appear on a different time travel show, ABC’s Time After Time, as H.G. Wells, the famous author. You might also recognize him as the pitch-perfect Cormac McLaggen in the last three Harry Potter movies. (He was also in the movie Pitch Perfect.)

Photo: Courtesy of James Dittiger/Lifetime.

Steven Pasquale

Notorious also stars Daniel Sunjata, who was (go with us here) in Rescue Me with Steven Pasquale—who will himself show up on CBS’s Doubt, alongside Katherine Hiegl and Laverne Cox. Pasquale might be most familiar for his recent role as Detective Mark Fuhrman in FX’s The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, but he’s also shown up recently in critically acclaimed dramas like Bloodline, Billions, The Good Wife, and he starred in the critically denigrated Do No Harm.

Photo: Courtesy of CBS.

Dreama Walker

Also starring in Doubt is another alum of The Good Wife: Dreama Walker, who played a memorably manipulative character in the latter show, though we don’t know yet what kind of character she plays in the former. Other than that, she’s probably best known for being the non-B on the sitcom Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23—though her big, beautiful eyes had a run for their money against then-co-star Krysten Ritter’s.

Photo: From Collection Christophel/Alamy.

Adam Campbell

Adam Campbell, who will star in Tina Fey’s upcoming show Great News on NBC, will be immediately recognizable to Fey fans: he played Kimmy’s affable, affluent, offensive beau in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. He’s also appeared in Epic Movie, Date Movie, and The Five-Year Engagement. (He’s also married to Jayma Mays—who used to be president of the “Hey, it’s that guy!” class before getting cast in Glee.)

Photo: Courtesy of Eric Liebowitz/NBC.

Hiro Kanagawa

You might recognize Hiro Kanagawa’s signature silver hair and insanely youthful skin (he’s 52?!) from recent appearances in Heroes Reborn, iZombie, Zoo, The Man in the High Castle, The 100, and The Magicians—though he’s actually been playing authority figures since the days of the animated PBS series Sagwa and The CW’s Smallville. He’s also shown up in The X-Files three times over the years—’94, ’97, and last year—popping up as a different character each time. Or maybe they’re secretly all the same character. (No doubt this conspiracy has been explored on an X-Files message board somewhere.) Kanagawa will have a major role in the new time travel show Timeless on NBC.

By Christos Kalohoridis/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images.

Malcolm Barrett

Also in Timeless is Malcolm Barrett, whom fans of the beloved TV comedy Better Off Ted will recognize immediately as scientist Lem Hewitt. His ace comic timing has made Barrett perfect for parts on the likes of Key and Peele, Garfunkel and Oates, and Kroll Show. Barrett has also appeared in movies such as Larry Crowne, Dear White People, and this year’s War on Everyone. The native New Yorker has shown up in several commercials as well, including the latest Diet Dr. Pepper spot where Justin Guarini shows up in a washing machine. You know the one.

By Danny Feld/ABC/Photofest.

Amy Hill

Amy Hill has done buzzy shows including Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and UnREAL in the past year, but she’s also had recurring voice roles on a variety of animated series—The Jackie Chan Adventures, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, King of the Hill, American Dad!—as well as recurring live-action roles on Enlightened, General Hospital, and That’s So Raven, among brief appearances on shows such as Castle and Glee. This fall, she’ll show up in the four-camera CBS comedy The Great Indoors.

Courtesy of James Dittiger/Lifetime.

Freddie Stroma

Another UnREAL alum, Freddie Stroma, will appear on a different time travel show, ABC’s Time After Time, as H.G. Wells, the famous author. You might also recognize him as the pitch-perfect Cormac McLaggen in the last three Harry Potter movies. (He was also in the movie Pitch Perfect.)

Courtesy of James Dittiger/Lifetime.

Susan Park

While Stroma’s known for playing the cad, Susan Park has made her mark playing the wife to not-very-good men. In season 1 of FX’s Fargo, she manages a brief star turn as Martin Freeman’s second wife; she has a recurring role on Fresh Off the Boat as Jessica’s sister, married to a man who lies about his debt; and she plays Walton Goggins’ beleaguered wife in HBO’s Vice Principals as well. She’s also in the recent Ghostbustersreboot, where she gets flashed, which, girl. Park will get to show a more skeptical side as the wary Liz in Fox’s The Mick.

Courtesy of Ron Tom/ABC.

Artemis Pebdani

You might know Artemis Pebdani best from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, where she played a memorable recurring character named . . . Artemis. Pebdani makes equally memorable turns as Flo Packer on Masters of Sex, Susan Ross on Scandal, and the mom in Bo Burnham’s very disturbing and funny music video “Repeat Stuff.” She’s also made recent appearances in shows such as New Girl, House of Lies, You’re the Worst, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Another Period. Pebdani will next grace us with a regular role on Fox’s partly animated sitcom Son of Zorn.

Courtesy of Fox.

Justin Hartley

Justin Hartley, by contrast, has a penchant for playing hot, alluring rich people, as he already has on Revenge, Smallville, Mistresses, and the soaps* Passions* and The Young and the Restless. He’ll show his subtler (and perhaps poorer?) side in the quiet drama This Is Us, on NBC.

Courtesy of Ron Batzdorff/NBC.

Merrin Dungey

Merrin Dungey has shown up in several major TV shows since she started working in 1995—including Friends, Murphy Brown, The West Wing, and Curb Your Enthusiasm—but her most recent recurring guest role was as Sarge’s wife Sharon Jeffords on Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Other major roles includes stints on Once Upon a Time and Chasing Life, while fans of Alias will recognize her as Allison Doren and Francie Calfo; meanwhile, fans of King of Queens know her as Kelly Palmer. Dungey will continue to be one of the hardest working women in showbiz by showing up in not one, but two major shows out this fall: ABC’s Conviction and HBO’s Big Little Lies.

By Eike Schroter/ABC/Getty Images.

Sandrine Holt

You might recognize Sandrine Holt, who’ll appear on CBS’s MacGyver reboot, from shows with moody, dark stories and even moodier, darker lighting: most memorably as Gillian Cole in House of Cards, but also from The Returned, Fear the Walking Dead, and Mr. Robot. She’s also appeared briefly in movies such as Terminator: Genisys and the (much better and better lit) Chinese Puzzle.

Courtesy of Nathaniel E. Bell/Netflix.

Sakina Jaffrey

Like Holt, Sakina Jaffrey has also shown up on House of Cards and Mr. Robot—albeit never in scenes with Holt—but she’s also done more light-hearted shows such as Sleepy Hollow and The Mindy Project, on which she played Mindy’s vivacious mother. Jaffrey’s own mother is the well-known actress, writer, and TV personality, Madhur Jaffrey. She’s been in . . . a lot, but most recently played Cece’s grandmother in New Girl. Sakina Jaffrey will be in NBC’s Timeless.

Courtesy of Nathaniel E. Bell/Netflix.

Cedric Yarbrough

Cedric Yarbrough also made a guest appearance on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and has shown off his comedy chops on Key and Peele, Reno 911!, The Goldbergs, and Comedy Bang! Bang! He’s also lent his velvet voice to The Boondocks and BoJack Horseman, as Officer Meow-Meow Fuzzyface. He will next appear in ABC’s Speechless, where, if the trailers have anything to say about it, he will definitely make you cry—if not with sweetness then with devastating laughter.

Courtesy of Eric McCandless/ABC.

J. August Richards

Joss Whedon fans will recognize J. August Richards for his role as the conflicted Charles Gunn on Angel. (Although the point of Angel may have been that everyone was conflicted.) The D.C. native has shown up in plenty of other beloved science-fiction shows as well, such as Sliders, The 4400, Warehouse 13, and Arrow. Most recently, Richards has had recurring roles in The Girlfriends’ Guide to Divorce and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and will appear this fall in ABC’s Notorious.

Courtesy of Eli Joshua Ade/ABC.

Steven Pasquale

Notorious also stars Daniel Sunjata, who was (go with us here) in Rescue Me with Steven Pasquale—who will himself show up on CBS’s Doubt, alongside Katherine Hiegl and Laverne Cox. Pasquale might be most familiar for his recent role as Detective Mark Fuhrman in FX’s The People v. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story, but he’s also shown up recently in critically acclaimed dramas like Bloodline, Billions, The Good Wife, and he starred in the critically denigrated Do No Harm.

Courtesy of CBS.

Dreama Walker

Also starring in Doubt is another alum of The Good Wife: Dreama Walker, who played a memorably manipulative character in the latter show, though we don’t know yet what kind of character she plays in the former. Other than that, she’s probably best known for being the non-B on the sitcom Don’t Trust the B in Apartment 23—though her big, beautiful eyes had a run for their money against then-co-star Krysten Ritter’s.

From Collection Christophel/Alamy.

Adam Campbell

Adam Campbell, who will star in Tina Fey’s upcoming show Great News on NBC, will be immediately recognizable to Fey fans: he played Kimmy’s affable, affluent, offensive beau in Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. He’s also appeared in Epic Movie, Date Movie, and The Five-Year Engagement. (He’s also married to Jayma Mays—who used to be president of the “Hey, it’s that guy!” class before getting cast in Glee.)